U.S. Intelligence Chief John Negroponte recently stated that despite claims to the contrary from both Iran and elsewhere, is will take at least 4 to 9 years until Tehran can create a nuclear weapon.
Negroponte stressed that the US was confident in its intelligence information, saying that it was based on "good and solid" information, according to an interview in Time Magazine quoted in Ynet.
"Certainly, we know where the key installations are," he added.
"The ones that have been monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency – Isfahan and Natanz. Are there others that we're not aware of at all? You don't know what you don't know."
He also pointed out that, "The assessment has been somewhere at the beginning of the next decade, between 2010 (and) 2015. This remains the assessment. Intelligence that was obtained from Iran showed that they may have been trying to conceptualize how to adapt one of their missiles to a nuclear weapon. It is cause for concern."
Satellite images recently released by a prominent US research institute reportedly demonstrate that Iran has expanded its uranium conversion facility in the Isfahan city region.
In addition, the photos show that Iran's underground uranium enrichment facility at Natanz has recently been fortified against an aerial attack.
